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Voyages of Discovery and Swan Hellenic


tring
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Both of these companies have cancelled cruise starting this week (4th Jan and 3rd Jan).

 

As they are both run by the All Leisure Group I am wondering if it is a company problem. Does anyone know anything about it.

 

We are due to fly out to Hong Kong on 1st Feb to board Voyager for four weeks. We have also booked a post cruise stay in Sri Lanka independently, so worry is setting in........

 

At least we paid part of the bill by Credit card.

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I'm booked on Minerva, sailing Jan 17 from Tenerife, and it too is cancelled. I will receive the letter next week on next steps and options. My friend from the UK was booked on a Jan 4 sailing on Voyager for 4 weeks, and she received her letter that the her cruise is cancelled. It appears that January cruises are cancelled, but no reason why.

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An All Leisure problem by the look of things as it affects Swan and VOD. NO mention of cancellation on the Travelsphere website and a holiday starting the 9th appears to be bookable on the site, so the whole company may not have gone bust, but the holiday companies within All Leisure may be separate companies and I think the cruise section was the weakest part of the group.

 

The Voyager cruise for the first half of Jan definitely cancelled and Voyager is very near Singapore heading into port a couple of days early.

 

Minerva is currently in Barcelona, where she should be overnight, then due to head to Marseille for turn around. They could easily be disembarking in Barcelona of course.

 

We are due on Voyager from 2nd Feb for 4 weeks and have also booked for a month in Feb 2018. We were looking forward to both very much, but are not convinced it will happen now.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems.

 

I suspect we will not find much out until after the New Year, which will be Tuesday in the UK as Monday is a bank holiday because New Years Day is a Sunday.

Edited by tring
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My husband has just found that Travelsphere and Just You (both previously All Leisure companies) had their T&Cs changed on 16th Dec 2016 to say they are operated by Page & Moy - so looks like they have been sold on.

 

Not looking good for VOD & Swan at present!

Edited by tring
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I booked back-to-back Grand voyages on Swan Hellenic's Minerva, from Jan 3 to Feb 25. I planned to spend 3 nights in Marseille before the cruise. Yesterday, the Scottsdale office phoned, informing me of the cancellation. Their call came one half hour before I was supposed to depart on the airport shuttle. They wouldn't say what happened to the ship, but they assured me I would be reimbursed promptly.

 

Having read postings above, I am now wondering whether the sister companies are having financial difficulties :confused:.

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I booked back-to-back Grand voyages on Swan Hellenic's Minerva, from Jan 3 to Feb 25. I planned to spend 3 nights in Marseille before the cruise. Yesterday, the Scottsdale office phoned, informing me of the cancellation. Their call came one half hour before I was supposed to depart on the airport shuttle. They wouldn't say what happened to the ship, but they assured me I would be reimbursed promptly.

 

Having read postings above, I am now wondering whether the sister companies are having financial difficulties :confused:.

 

That is what I am thinking.

 

You were due on board until the 25th February - did they tell you the whole lot had been pulled? Obviously they will be telling the people due to go out soon, but if Minerva cruises are cancelled for February, rather than just looking uncertain, then it does not look likely that there could be any sort of rescue.

 

Suspect it will be Tuesday before anything more is said.

 

It is the staff who are in the worst position if what we suspect is true - I feel sorry for them.

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"You were due on board until the 25th February - did they tell you the whole lot had been pulled?"

 

The USA staff member didn't provide very specific information. She stated that the Jan 3 to Jan 30 grand voyage was cancelled, but she did not know the status of the Jan 30 Feb 25 grand voyage.

Since I wish to escape winter, I said that I preferred to look for some alternative travel options, and she assured me of full reimbursement.

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Thanks for that. It is understandable you wanted to cancel the lot if coming that far. It is a big problem for you, especially as you had no notice beforehand. Hope you find something else.

 

At least we are not due to fly out until 1st Feb, so if our's does not go ahead we should have a bit of time to decide whether to expand the post cruise stay into a holiday, or cancel the lot - I think our insurance will cover that if necessary.

 

I wish you a Happy New Year from England (2017). It has gone 1.00am over here.

Edited by tring
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So sorry to hear there are problems with VOD- we have had such wonderful cruises with them in the past.

 

However, the new Voyager ship had so many inherent problems with its layout that we were reluctant to use it again, since it undermined so much of its former major appeal of the old but creaky Discovery - a travel and education venue with protected lazy spots to be outdoors and sufficient options for private two-person table dining.

 

The new version of VOD Voyager ship simply was not a welcome replacement choice for their wonderful brand of educational cruising.

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Good to hear from you again OslSalt, though not in the best situation. Hope all is well with you and Happy New Year.

 

More info:-

 

Minerva seems to be continuing on her current itinerary, having left Barcelona in the direction of Marseille (the turn around port). This is a live website:-

 

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:370104/mmsi:309477000/vessel:MINERVA

 

Voyager went into Singapore late last night (UK time), but not due there until tomorrow:-

 

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:370333/mmsi:309695000/vessel:VOYAGER

Edited by tring
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Hi all and a good New Year to one and all.

 

However, not such an apparently good New Year for Voyager and Minerva.

 

Hotel staff on-board Voyager have been told that Sea Chefs, who are contracted to carry out all the hotel functions aboard Voyager and Minerva, are flying out some of its head office staff from Germany to Speak to the crew on-board Voyager on Monday 2nd January. A lot of air miles to impart good news? I don’t think so!

 

Also during Voyagers recent dry dock in the Keppel yard in Singapore, it was reported that surveyors for an undisclosed, prospective buyer for Voyager spent time examining the ship.

 

I only hope that the company make a public announcement as soon as possible to enable those of us booked to be able to make further arrangements and for them to return deposits and monies already paid back to us without protracted claims.

 

Just as a by note. This will be the second cruise which I had booked last year, with different companies which have been cancelled. One because they change the ship to an inferior one on the cruise booked and the second looks unfortunately like Voyager.

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My husband has just found that Travelsphere and Just You (both previously All Leisure companies) had their T&Cs changed on 16th Dec 2016 to say they are operated by Page & Moy - so looks like they have been sold on.

 

Not looking good for VOD & Swan at present!

 

Page & Moy is a subsidiary of All leisure.

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Sea Chefs certainly put in an excellent choice on our last Voyager cruise a few years ago - a young man from Holland I believe - wonderful food. This is all starting to sound so sad, because they had such a winning concept for those of us who love to travel and learn -we loved every single lecturer they provided, loved the passengers, and we still continue to reference what we learned on those VOD cruises. And we are Yanks, who had to scramble to keep up with the mainly UK references and history.

 

Thanks for the heads up - won't drape this thread in black crepe as of yet but it is certainly making me thankful for all the really great places they sent us to - mainly Indian Ocean, UAE, Africa, Burma, Suez, Arctic Circle, White Sea Russia .....

Edited by OlsSalt
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Firstly I'd wish to offer my sympathy to all those who have been effected by the cancellation of these cruises.

I wish you all a Happy New Year, though in the circumstances this news is not really a great start!

My wife and I have recently returned from the " Beyond Ceylon" cruise on MV Voyager, 22nd November - 6th December, 2016.

This was our 5th cruise onboard Voyager. At the end of our cruise Voyager was to enter dry dock in Singapore. The scheduled cruise following ours had already been cancelled to accommodate the dry docking.

I did enquire whilst onboard Voyager regarding the necessity for the dry docking and was told that there was a restriction on engine speed.

Whatever the true problem was we experienced NO problems on our itinerary whatsoever.

For those familiar with Voyager she was at her very best, it was a wonderful cruise, everything was up to standard or on reflection possibly even higher than our previous cruises

Passenger wise she was only carrying 280 passengers, ( just over half capacity of 540 ) of which 120 were single travellers, and of the 280 ( total ) 176 were returning passengers

Like others, my fear is that All Leisure is in financial difficulties.

I feel so so sorry for the wonderful Staff and how this will effect them.

I'm hoping that somehow a solution will be reached but if I'm honest with myself I fear the two brands will most likely disappear.

With ABTA and ATOL membership and normal travel insurance I'm sure no one who had booked and paid will be out of pocket, perhaps a delay in monies being refunded but nothing more.

This is a truly sad situation, I'm also thinking of some lovely people we met on the cruise who were scheduled to remain onboard for further cruises , one couple until early February! Those people had already amended their bookings to remain in the Singapore vicinity ( hotel ) whilst Voyager was in dry dock.

I truly hope All Leisure can overcome this, the loss of these two brands would be tragic.

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I have just been on the phone to VOD and was told that no other voyages were being cancelled at present,how true this is I've no idea.I certainly hope that this is sorted out pretty soon one way or another for the people with future booking and the staff effected.

 

This will still hopefully be our first time on VOD and we booked our April cruise for the great itinerary which other companies do not do.So all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

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Toms Cruise Blog is providing updates on the All Leisure Group company's situation, at

https://tomscruiseblog.co.uk/2017/01/02/swan-hellenic-voyages-of-discovery-update/#comment-22914

 

Thanks for the updates. Maybe SeaChefs is coming out personally to hand Voyager an award for having such a great chef on board? :p

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I was booked on Voyager back to back 4th Jan -2 Feb, but likewise have only been told my first leg has been cancelled. Specific requests for info about second leg - "no information available, sorry"

Now, if there is a company issue that is an appalling response, albeit in difficult circumstances for the staff. If however it is a ship issue I would rather they were honest that something needed resolution. Either way with no information it is hard to plan!! Like many others, hard to feel anything but concern for the wonderful ship based staff; the back of house staff however......

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I also feel very sorry for the staff, but I would hope the shipboard staff will likely find other contracts in the not too far distant future, perhaps through the same employer, as they provide the staff for a number of ships apparently. They will have a good background behind them, but whether they can find a ship they would be happy on is another matter - some lines are not popular.

 

We have found the office staff in the UK extremely helpful in the past on a number of occasions. Staff the customers can talk to must also be concerned about their jobs and are probably as much in the dark about the eventual outcome as we are at present and could not give out anything they were not authorised to anyway. I am sure they will have lots of calls from customers at present and some will loose their cool on the phone, but that only makes the job much more difficult for the office staff.

 

I suspect even the management are still trying to sort whatever is happening and I would not expect anyone to come out with a statement saying that there could be the sort of bad news ahead that we are thinking may happen. If you look at links given earlier in this thread there are reports of some things that may be happening, (ship's possibly being sold, staff on board Voyager expecting a visit from their employers who are based in Europe tomorrow).

 

Decisions on what may, (or may not), happen to the cruises ahead, even in mid January are unlikely to be finalised until the situation is clear and, even then, I would expect the company to have the courtesy of telling their staff before making the position public, if there is bad news.

 

I do see it is of particular concern for those due to board in a couple of weeks, but fear all we can do is wait at present. We are using the time to look into other possible plans we could make if our cruise does not go ahead as we have booked a land holiday post cruise, but were relying on VOD's flights.

 

I feel it is good that there are no passengers boarding this week as it would be much worse IMO if passengers could be at risk of a cruise being curtailed, perhaps having to make their own arrangements to get home, by relying on ATOL or insurance companies. That is not to say we would not be very disappointed if our cruises are cancelled.

 

I would also like to thank people who have posted details here as it at least shares what knowledge we can glean between us.

Edited by tring
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What I really find offensive about this whole situation is that Roger Allard, not only chairman and leading shareholder of the All Leisure Group, but who has also been on the board of ABTA for many years, appears to be hiding somewhere out of site and contact.

 

ABTA’s public mission statement beginning: “What the Code means for you,” clearly states that at all times “Accurate information should be given, so you (the client) can make an informed choice.”

 

So, come on Allard. What have you got to say to all those people whose holidays you are at present ruining or are about to ruin and so much for ABTA's Code of Conduct whose own board members ignor it for their own means.

 

Is this man to be trusted?

 

Here is an example of Allard’s self-preservation. Remember the sale and leaseback of the ship Hebridean Princess in November 2015. Well look a bit more closely at the transaction, as reported by the Scotsman newspaper.

 

“Hebridean Princess owned by All Leisure Holidays is selling the ship and “certain related assets” for £2.9 million in cash to a new company, HP Shipping, from which it will lease the five-star ship back.

 

HP Shipping will be wholly owned by a syndicate of private investors led by Roger Allard.

 

So, I’m all right Jack!!!

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Duffus,

 

I did not know Allard was on the board of ABTA, but I have noticed certain things on the net (e.g. sale of Hebridean Princess) and wondered....... though I have no business knowledge so would not like to make a comment myself.

 

My previous comments were about the employees who I do feel sorry for.

Edited by tring
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